You Won't Believe Who Wants Harry Potter Dead

by Matt Bradshaw Nov 9th 2006 // 2:01PM

Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Family Films, Harry Potter, Remakes and Sequels

OK, I'm not above using a sensationalistic headline to grab people's attention. It's not so much that actor Daniel Radcliffe wants to kill off the character he's played in four (soon to be five) films based on the books of J.K. Rowling, but he seems to think that's the logical place for the story to end. According to Sci Fi Wire, Radcliffe spoke to a group of journalists on November 6 via conference call from London, and had this to say when asked if he thought he would one day be playing a death scene for Harry. "That's a very good question," he said. "I like to think that I will. I think, personally, that's the only way [Rowling] could ever halt any call for her to keep writing [Harry Potter books], because, I mean, if Harry survives, she'll just be getting plagued by requests to write an eighth book for the rest of her life." Rowling has, in fact, stated that two characters will die in the final novel, and who's to say one of them won't be Harry himself?

Radcliffe went on to say that he sees a parallel between how Harry might die, and the death of another famous literary character. "I think it will be something to do with the fact that, maybe the only way Voldemort can be killed is if Harry is killed as well. "My friend sort of compared it to both [Sherlock Holmes and Professor Moriarty] dying at the same time. But, obviously, he hasn't read the sequel [in which Holmes was revived]. So, yes, but that's the thing that I would sort of like to see coming." This seems to play into something Radcliffe said in an interview back in August, where he supposed that the mystical and personal connection between Harry and Voldemort might require both of them to die.

This certainly isn't the first (or even the second) time Radcliffe has suggested that Harry might be taking the old dirt nap by the end of the series. It was almost precisely a year ago that he voiced a similar opinion (as reported here on Cinematical). Maybe the Halloween season stirs up morbid thoughts for the young actor, though I suspect it has more to do with him not wanting to be stereotyped as Harry Potter for the rest of his career, and who can blame him. Radcliffe's decision to appear in a London stage production of Equus (again, you read it here on Cinematical) in a role that will require him to be nude on stage, reminded me of Christopher Reeve's decision to star in Monsignor. In that film, the star of the Superman series played a priest who, among other things, carried on an affair with a nun. It seemed like a calculated maneuver to distance himself somewhat from the role that had made him famous, and to prove that he was capable of other things as an actor.

As far as Rowling being "plagued" with demands from irate fans for the series to continue beyond the proposed seven novels, that's going to happen whether Harry survives or not. In the Harry Potter universe, death is only permanent when it is dramatically convenient. There's no reason to believe Harry couldn't die in one book, but get better in time for the next.

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Tags: cinematical, daniel radcliffe, death, film, harry potter, HarryPotter, movies

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